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How Does It Feel To Be An Employee.Limitless.

I texted a friend earlier this week and I told him, “How’s work? You seem to be enjoying it lately.” Then he replied a really really long one, where he opened up on how he really felt at work. He said, “Enjoying? How can you enjoy when everytime you serve customers food a bit late they will nag and shout at you, that you have to clean each table as fast as 45 seconds, that you have to clean restrooms and even female restrooms having unbearable dirt in it…”. I replied, “You know what, I understand how you feel, and for that hard work you are showing, you deserve a recognition, I’ll treat you the next time we meet.”

When we were having that conversation, I really felt how hard it is to work. I am currently working in a call center of a certain company. And when my friend texted me that, I realized how hard his work was and I had an easier one. I realized that I keep on complaining how hard my work was, that my work was just to sit down for 8 hours and receive calls and talk to customers, while his work was to serve food, clean tables and clean dirty restrooms. I felt a little guilty because I realized that I keep on complaining but there are a lot of working people out there that deserves to complain more. More over, those people working harder and has harder jobs have lesser salary than on what I receive. Then I thought, how hard does it feel to be an employee, especially that you have to shed off 8 hours of your day working, instead of just having fun at home or with friends, and then just receive a little amount of salary, lower than what you should be receiving after providing all the hardwork to provide customer satisfaction. I never thought I’d say this, but I understand now those working people out there coming home late and trying their best to save money for the future of their family. I tell you, t’s really hard.

Phase 1: Work Appreciation.

Of course, when you’re new to something, you will learn to appreciate it at first, or maybe it would take time before you would learn to appreciate the changes. It’s fun at first of course. You will meet new friends, you will love the ambiance of being in the corporate world, you will meet professional people, you will of course start in training and the best part of all, is the fact that you are already earning money. Starting a job is really a challenge, you have to sacrifice time for yourself, family and friends, and focus 8 hours to your job. Learning is also the first step to advance at work, you will be in training for several months. From there you will definitely be bonded with your team and learn to hang out a lot with them. They will also be your guide since some of your workmates will be older than you. And the best feeling at work is when you receive your first pay, that feeling when you don’t know where you will spend your first pay and feel that all your hardwork and sacrifices have paid off, and everything you’ve worked for is now in your hands.

When I started working, it was actually hard for me to adapt because most of them were older than me. But I started to make friends when I met people at work closer to my age. My team is like my second family. You will really learn to appreciate your workmates when you’ve been with them for a long time. Spending money and time was fun with them because they made sure no dull moments when we were all together. Learning was also a great experience since each mentor will make sure that every second was fun, unlike at school that professors were very serious and strict. Well they were also strict but they made sure they make personal contact with each member so that they would know the progress of each one. And when my first salary came, I spent a lot buying stuffs I needed for myself and I bought food for my family at home and gave some amount to my mom. It was a bit of an accomplishment for me. It was all worth it for me and by that point I enjoyed having work. I was thankful that I was given a chance to earn money for my family, it is the best feeling to spend what you have worked for since this is to support the living of my family.

Phase 2: Work Realization, Quit or Continue?

Working is fun, but your views will change as you will experience a lot of challenges, trials and victories. You will have your first absence, maybe because of sickness or just because of pure laziness. You will also experience your first time being late and might come a time this will happen week after week. There might also be times that some of your workmates will talk about someone that they’re starting to hate from your team, and your team will start to be divided into group of friends, isolating themselves from the others, and what’s worse is that some of your workmates might be backstabbing you as well. You have to be prepared. And after several months of these repeated experiences, you’ll realize that you are asking yourself if you’d still like to continue this work, or just quit.

I actually experienced all these at work. I started having absences and lates. There came a point where I missed becoming a student, controlling and having my own time and schedule, and having a lot time to rest. Working is very exhausting, that’s one thing I learned. I started having sleepless days just to hang out with my friends then going straight to work. I sacrificed sleeping just to make sure I will have time with my friends. There would be moments, too, where you have to go to work during holidays and you will just secretly choose to be absent just to have time to rest for that whole day. I wanted to quit work. I wanted to have more time for myself and my friends. I got tired of waking up everyday, doing the routine and serve others wherein I should be the being served to at malls, restaurants or bars. I wanted to experience pleasure again since I grew tired working. There came a point as well where my friends turned their backs against me. They started spreading rumors about me being an untrue friend and that I back-stab. I got hurt of course, and made me pursue on quitting my job. But then I realized, selfish intents will not help me advance in my career and feed my family. Quitting work is a hard decision, you have to think of all the consequences first. So I went back to the main reason why I worked, and that is to help my family live a better life, and from there, I stayed, became more patient and grew stronger.

Phase 3: Work Conclusion

If you chose to conclude and finish your work, it must be a tough choice. I remember other workmates I had who resigned from their work and most of their reasons were the change of career, some wanted to go back to school and some wanted to have a long vacation for the meantime. Quitting from work actually isn’t bad, I’m not promoting it but what I’m saying is if quitting your work will help you grow as a person, then do it. Sometimes we just limit ourselves to our work and become like a turtle, carrying this big shell that is not leading us anywhere. Quitting from work makes us open from more opportunities we have outside that can give us more chance to excel and be more successful in a different field. Having a job is not actually the terminal point of life, rather there should be different branches as well leading us to different options on making us a better person.

If you chose to conclude on staying at your work, then that’s a good decision as well. You chose to grow the seed that you planted. Yes it may take a while but it’s worth it when you see that what you’ve worked for has started bearing it’s fruits and from there you can say you’ve succeeded and made the right choice. Yes, you might be a turtle carrying that big old shell, but remember, that shell is your protection from harm, that is your first line of defense especially when something wrong happens in an unexpected manner. During times like this, it is hard to find a work fit for us so we should choose to be practical at times and not get eaten up due to jealousy and fear, instead we should be proud and stay strong for what you have is something that you will be cultivating for the provision of your future.

I concluded to stay working. I have a goal and I need to make sure I fulfill them so that I don’t have any regrets at the future. I learned to accept that there will be people who will dislike you at work but what you have to do is to keep your true friends and enjoy. I also learned that my work is important to keep my family living and I have to work hard and save money. It’s hard at first, since sometimes I don’t have money even going to work, but what you have to do is keep the faith, budget your money and save even a little because when the time comes, that little amount you saved will grow and will be your helping hand for the future. I also accepted the fact that it is hard to work, that there will be sleepless nights, tiring moments and breaking points, even moments where I am sleeping at the bus on my way home, but I learned to appreciate every small stuff that keeps me going and make me do my best at work, one of them is called Inspiration.

For those people working hard, salesmen, fish and meat vendors, jeepney and taxi drivers, teachers, factory workers, security guards, waiters, dish washers, everyone working hard, I can’t name each one of you, but I undertstand every hardship you experience. I understand the frustration everytime tax is deducted to our salaries, everytime prices of products and services increase, everytime that coin falls out of our pockets, everytime there are a lot of expenses and most especially during moments where you have to pay all your debts and little amount of money is left to be budgeted until the next salary comes. I have experienced those, and I understand my mom now on how much hardwork she has been giving since she started working. It’s a bit frustrating but we should also not forget the motivation, inspiration and support that we have in our lives that will keep us going and doing our best at work. We should not surrender, rather we should work harder and persevere more, we should fight for our goals. I know it is hard and frustrating but we should remember that if we don’t work hard, who would earn for us? Our families are depending on us and we should not let go.

Even though the situation is very difficult to handle, we should always be optimistic and think of the brighter side. I remember my workmate, he has the lowest salary among the members of our team and he’s still positive that this amount would be a big help to his family. We should all be that positive and faithful that in all the hardwork that we are doing, there is a better future ahead for us. Never lose hope, every hard work has a reward, it just so happened that you have to prove yourself worthy and be patient. It’s still a long way before the future comes, and for now we shouldn’t rush, instead we should be ready, for the future is a big battle of life that we will be facing, a battle where tests and challenges are unpredictable and will definitely shake our faith, so what we should do is to invest for a brighter future. Remember, it’s better to suffer and sacrifice now and be prepared, rather than have endless sufferings and regrets in the future. Enjoy work and be faithful for a bright and fruitful future.